Pearlshipping and Alola League success
by J-Ster 172002
Summary: After Ash's success at the Alola League, he returns home to find that lots of his old friends have come on over to celebrate his feat. Dawn is especially excited to see Ash again. What will happen between them?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is a Pearlshipping story that takes place right after the Sun and Moon series.**

"We're finally back home in Kanto. Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash cheered before running off forwards, full of eagerness. He quickly ran across the lush green grass that overlooked the area of Pallet Town. Once again, Ash Ketchum was home. Pikachu smiled as he stayed perched on Ash's shoulder.

Ash was so excited to be back home; he couldn't wait to see his mum and tell he about his latest adventures in Alola. He knew she'd be so proud of him when he would show her the shiny trophy that he'd received for winning the Alola League.

He'd competed in many leagues, but each time he'd fallen a little short, each time he'd won nothing. Although it was frustrating, he never let those defeats upset him, instead he used them to try and motivate himself to do better next time. However, this time he'd won a league. He'd fought hard and managed to win the Alola League. He'd worked hard for it, and the trophy he bought home was a reminder of his great feat.

After a short run from just outside the edge of Pallet Town, Ash and Pikachu had arrived outside the tidy garden that lay in front of his mother's home. The house sported a pale green roof with bright white walls. Ash reached out without hesitation, pressing his index finger against the doorbell adorning the front entrance to the cosy house. Ash was expecting his mother to answer the door, then get super excited to see him again.

The wait was not long for the door to swing open, however, his mum wasn't the one who opened it. Standing in front of the door were several people who he knew.

"Ash, welcome back!" A Female voice exclaimed, leading Ash inside the house. "Congratulations on your Alola League win, you were awesome! It's so great to see you!" Dawn exclaimed while reaching her hand up for their signature high five.

Ash was smiled and responded, "It's great to see you too, Dawn!" Ash replied while high fiving her.

Just then, Ash was pulled into a huge hug by none other than Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum.

"Ash, you're finally back home!" The mother exclaimed. "I'm so proud of you, I saw your Alola League battles, I thought you truly deserved to win the title. Oh, I'm so happy and thrilled that you won. Ash was now beaming at seeing how happy his mum was, it was great to have her fully support his goal and choices.

Once Delia let go of Ash, he gazed around the room, looking at all the people there, all of who he immediately recognised. He noticed Brock, Dawn, Tracey and May all standing around the room. Ash's mother then spoke.

"We decided to get some of your friends over here to celebrate your amazing achievement. They're going to stay over for a few nights. Oh, and we're going to play a couple of rounds of bowling tonight at the Pallet Town Bowling alley," Delia explained.

"That's so great, I'm looking forward to that!" Ash exclaimed.

"That's good to hear. Now, why don't we have some lunch?" Delia asked while looking at the long table that was adorned with a variety of fruit, breads, vegetables, rice, pasta and much else that she had cooked. All of Ash's friends didn't waste a minute taking a seat, scarfing down one morsel after another.

Dawn was faced opposite of Ash, which gave them the perfect opportunity to talk to each other.

"Dawn, how's your contest carer been going since we last met up in Unova?" Ash asked, "I bet you won a Grand Festival, right?"

"Well, I flopped at the Johto Grand Festival, I only finished in the top 16, however, I made a good recovery in Hoenn. I finished the winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival." Dawn explained.

"Great job, Dawn, I knew you'd win a Grand Festival, especially since you were awesome in the Sinnoh edition and came so close to winning it," Ash exclaimed.

"Thanks, I got most of my skills, like the Ice Aqua Jet combination, and inspiration from you," Dawn replied with a slight blush finding its way to her cheeks. The both of them stared at each other for the next few seconds, Dawn was about to break the silence when suddenly, a light tapping noise could be heard.

Brock tapped on his glass of water with a metal teaspoon, then proceeded to give a toast…

"I'd like to congratulate Ash on his much-deserved success at the Alola League, cheers!" Everyone briefly tapped their glasses of water together before Brock continued. "And now that I see most of us have finished eating, let's go and get ready for the game of bowling!"

"Awesome! I haven't played a game of bowling since I was last in Hoenn, which was many years ago!" May exclaimed with enthusiasm.

Everyone rushed from the table excitedly, except Dawn, who sat there feeling disappointed that Brock had, un-intentionally, stopped her from saying what she was going to say to Ash. She wanted to tell him how much she had missed him, and whether he still remembered the lyrics to their duet they had formed together when they were bored one afternoon during their Sinnoh adventures together.

"Oh well," Dawn said to herself, "I can always speak to him later tonight at the bowling alley." She then went upstairs to prepare for tonight's trip to the bowling alley.

**The next chapter will take place at the bowling alley. **

**Thanks for reading! See you next time!**


	2. Chapter 2: The bowling game

**Hi! Welcome to chapter 2! In this chapter, Ash and the gang play a game of bowling. Ash and Dawn's feeling for each other will grow a bit. I hope you enjoy!**

Ash and his friends walked up the stony pathway that led to the glossy doors of the huge bowling arena. As soon as they stepped inside, they all saw six bowling lanes, a reception desk that was around twenty-five yards opposite them, and wooden tables and a large score machine at each lane. They saw that one lane on the far right was being used by a Male in an orange and white striped shirt.

Brock strolled up to the long counter to pay for a game of bowling. Meanwhile, Ash and friends went to check out the bowling balls to decide which weight would be best for them to use in the game.

Dawn then suggested an idea. "Why don't we play in teams?"

"That's a great idea, Dawn. Let's be in the same team as each other." Ash replied.

"I'd rather just watch you four play. Plus, I didn't really want to play bowling much, since it's not too much fun for me." Tracey replied.

"That's fine. So, that means me and May will be on the same team." Brock answered.

Everyone was happy with their teams. Just then, a worker came out holding some bowling shoes for the gang to wear while they played their game of bowling. The gang quickly took them and put them on. Then they entered their teams onto the score machine that was on their lane.

The first to bowl was Ash.

Ash slowly picked up a bowling ball, slowly walked to the red line on the glossy lane, then stood into position. Taking a deep breath, he bent his arm back powerfully rolled the ball forwards. The ball rolled quickly along the centre of the lane, it then made sweet contact with one of the pins, making it crash into the other pins that stood there. It was a sweet strike and a perfect start for Ash.

"Yes!" Ash cheered, while walking back to the seats.

Dawn then stood up, giving Ash a quick high-five, then picked up a dark blue bowling ball. She strolled over to the edge of the lane and stood in position. After a few seconds of staring at the pins that lay in front of her, she bent her hand back and let go of the ball, making if shoot forward towards the direction of the pins. The ball rolled very fast down the middle of the lane and made lovely contact with the main pin. It was a fantastic strike!

Ash and Dawn did another quick high-five before Brock stepped up and walked towards the end of the lane. He crouched down while holding the ball in one ha-

"I'm going to fine whoever made these bowling balls so rubbish at hitting the target!" Shouted a loud and frustrated voice.

Ash, Dawn and Brock all turned to face each other and began chuckling.

"Looks like Barry is here and hasn't changed a bit," Dawn whispered while chuckling with the others. They all looked to the right and saw that Barry was the person who was using the lane of the far right.

Barry then started walking down towards the counter, presumably to buy a snack, he recognised Ash and the others at their lane. Barry jogged over to them.

"Hi! It's been a while! You five playing bowling? Please can I join in your game? I've paid for a bowling ticket that lets me come here and play as many games as I want during my few days holiday I currently have here. What do you say? "Barry asked, while continuously saying and asking different things while not giving the others a chance to speak or reply.

"Sure! You can join a team with me if you'd like, since I'm currently not playing," Tracey replied, finally managing to get an answer between one of Barry's sentences.

Brock registered Barry's name onto the same team as Tracey. Brock and May took their first go, managing to both get a spare. Barry then stepped up for his go.

"Watch and learn from an amazing player, aka me!" He spoke with a hint of arrogance.

Barry grabbed a bowling ball, used both hands to carry it over to the front of the lane, then… started to spin around.

Ash, Dawn, Brock, May and Tracey all looked puzzled. Why on Earth was Barry trying to do tricks and not just take his go normally?

Barry spun around for another couple of seconds before letting go of the ball. Then something very embarrassing happened.

As Barry let go of the ball with both his hands, he'd aimed it to diagonally to his left. It sent the ball the completely wrong way. The ball slowly rolled down the building's hard floor, banging a couple of metal tables as it went on its short roll, before eventually rolling into the waiting hands of a worker at the bowling place.

The worker scooped up the bowling ball with his hands, then walked over to Barry and the others, the worker had a grin on his face.

"Hi, please don't try tricks like spinning around while bowling, it can be dangerous and might even break something or hurt someone else," the worker explained in a causal voice while smirking a bit from how bad Barry's shot was.

"Sorry," Barry muttered while taking the ball from the worker's hands. Barry waited until the worker walked away…

"I'm going to fine whoever made these balls so un-usable to do with tricks! He ranted.

"Calm down, why don't you take your shot again? Since the machine didn't count it as a go due to it making no contact with the lane," Tracey explained.

So, Barry walked back up to the long lane, this time preparing to do a normal shot. But when he let go of the ball, he stumbled over his left foot.

"Wha!" Barry screamed as he slipped over onto his back. Meanwhile, the shot rolled straight to the left of the lane and into the gutter. It was another terrible shot.

"Never mind, I'll get a spare." Barry spoke with confidence, while picking up another ball to take his second, (well, third) shot.

Ash and the gang watched Barry prepare to take his next shot. Would he finally get the shot right and maybe, just maybe, hit a few pins?

Short answer is that Barry couldn't, as his next shot completely missed all the pins too.

"That's it! I'm going to fine whoever runs this bowling alley for running a game that's so hard to play!" Barry shouted while ripping up his bowling pass ticket into several pieces of paper. The paper slowly floated to the ground as his ripped it up. Barry then ran out of the bowling alley, leaving Ash and co to giggle amongst themselves.

"Well, I guess bowling's not for him," Brock chuckled while editing the teams on the machine at their lane.

"I think I'll pull out; I'd rather just watch you four bowl." Tracey explained. "Anyways, it's your go next, Ash."

The game was lots of fun. Ash and Dawn made a great team and managed to win by a landslide. Brock and May finished far behind in second place but didn't mind because it was lots of fun.

Dawn especially had so much fun. She and Ash had worked so well together and shown what a great team they were.

Ash then came running up to Dawn.

"We're awesome and we did so well, we make a great team, Dawn." Ash told her. Ash then raised his hand for a high-five and Dawn returned it.

"Yeah! You're so amazing at bowling, Ash." Dawn complimented.

They then went silent for the few seconds Ash then spoke…

It's been fun hanging out with you again, Dawn. I missed you the most out of everyone who I've travelled with. We were such a great team when we travelled together, and we had so much fun. I liked bonding with you in an activity again today," Ash spoke with a smile on his face.

"I missed when we bonded together, so for me, this was my best day in a while. I loved every second of today and our bowling game together. It was brilliant," Dawn spoke while feeling nervous at the same time.

Dawn then gave Ash a slight hug, which he returned. The two of them hugged for a few more seconds, arms wrapped around each other.

Once they broke up the hug, they ran over to the exit, where Brock and May where waiting. There was another activity to come to celebrate Ash's Alola League victory.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. In the next chapter, the gang will do another activity. How will thing work out between Ash and Dawn in the next chapter? You'll find out soon.**

**Thanks for reading! I'll see you next time. Bye!**


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